Pre-roll, mid-roll, 15 seconds, 30 seconds, interactive videos. Streaming ad strategies have more variables than ever, but they still center on one canvas: video.
Most ads are concentrated in the same high-traffic moments, which means brands often compete for attention in a crowded window. For brands investing in streaming, there’s another high-attention window that most ad strategies don’t account for: pause ads.
Pause ads create a viewer-controlled moment with exceptionally high attention. Consumers want ad experiences that align seamlessly with how they consume content. By combining contextual intelligence, automation, and interactivity, brands can show up in ways that feel more relevant, timely, and useful.
Omnicom Media Partner Intelligence and Amazon Ads wanted to understand what happens when a brand shows up in that moment, and how it works alongside video to move viewers through the funnel.
What the research found
Amazon Ads and Omnicom Media Partner Intelligence’s joint study, “The Power of the Pause,” used visual attention technology to track how viewers engage with pause ads vs. traditional video formats across Prime Video, measuring not just whether people looked, but what that attention produced.
Findings show that pause ads captured a 92% visual attention rate alongside 30-second video ads (87%) and 15-second video ads (76%), suggesting that a combined video and pause strategy commands strong natural attention across the board.
The study also measured the impact on brand sentiment, and the factors that contribute most to it. Brand connection lifted 11 percentage points among general pause ad viewers, and purchase intent rose 20 percentage points when the ad was contextually aligned with the content being streamed. Among existing customers, brand favorability increased 24 percentage points, suggesting pause ads deepen relationships with audiences who already know the brand, not just introduce it to new ones.
Two formats, two jobs
The most actionable finding was that the two formats serve fundamentally different roles within the same content session and can create compounding impact when used together.
Video ads build top-of-funnel awareness by introducing a brand, establishing narrative, and generating broad reach. Pause ads operate differently; they appear in the moment the viewer chooses to pause, creating a non-interruptive, high-attention environment suited to mid-funnel objectives: deepening brand connection, reinforcing consideration, nudging purchase intent.
These roles are complementary, not competitive. Video sets the stage, and the pause ad deepens the impression. Together, they cover more of the funnel within a single streaming session than either format achieves alone.
The untapped canvas
For brands already investing in streaming video, pause ads represent incremental reach within the same environment, against the same audience, without additional frequency fatigue. Because pause ads occupy a moment the viewer created, they sidestep the central tension of ad-supported streaming: the trade-off between monetization and viewer experience.
With the viewer initiating the pause, the ad becomes a result of a choice instead of an interruption. There’s nothing to skip past, no content being delayed. And better for brands? The average pause lasts two to three minutes—more than enough time for a brand message to land without competing for attention.
What this means for format strategy
When streaming ad strategies center on video completion rate, they tell only part of the story; the deeper question is what happens when you layer a high-attention pause moment on top of the awareness a video ad already brings.
A pause ad that appears in a moment of genuine attention, contextually aligned with the content, can shift brand perception in ways that a completed video view may not. The opportunity isn’t to replace video with pause ads. It’s to deploy both with intention, using video for awareness and pause for connection, and then measure the combined impact rather than evaluating each format in isolation.
For the industry, it surfaces a question worth answering: If half of all streaming sessions include a pause, and that moment delivers attention and brand connection that compounds the impact of video, why aren’t more brands there?
For Omnicom Media Partner Intelligence and Amazon Ads, this is only the first chapter. The next study will continue to explore pause ads and explore how richer, more immersive creative within the format deepens brand impact and the viewer experience.
—
Kara Manatt serves as EVP of intelligence solutions at Omnicom Media. A media and advertising technology expert with more than 15 years of experience spanning research, strategy, and product development, she built the partner intelligence practice, an industry-recognized, first-of-its-kind global proving ground for advertising innovation.